In today’s times, most businesses are looking for ways to increase sales, let alone revenue. However, finding ways to increase our revenue will help our online service businesses more in the long run. Today, I will share 5 ways to increase revenue in your online service business.
5 Ways to Increase Your Revenue
- Increase pricing
- Provide Special Offers
- Added Services
- Teach Courses or Offer a Membership
- Digital Products
Where to Start
It is best if you start by diving deep into your data. Analyzing your current, past 6 months, and last year’s revenue may help you see a pattern in your sales and revenue.
Analyzing purchase patterns can reveal which products or offerings are most popular among specific customer segments. This information can inform targeted marketing efforts, product development strategies, and pricing adjustments.“
Mailchimp
Increase Pricing
I think this seems like the obvious option when you want to increase your revenue, however, I believe that most online service providers are priced too low. This because I certainly was when I began and I know that the large majority of my clients started at a price significantly lower than their value.
This is the first place to begin after doing your analysis. I should mention, however, that you should do market and competitive research before increasing your rates. You must understand where you are priced in relation to competitors but also that raising your rate will still be a good value for the market.
Offer Additional Services
Offering additional services can immediately increase revenue in your online service business. I know I was often asked if I provided __________ services by clients. It is the reason I took more courses and became certified in digital marketing. My virtual assistant clients were requesting help with their social media and other digital marketing services.
I listened to my clients and created additional service packages to help them.“
Special Offers
Sending out special offers can bridge the gap between your audience member remaining a prospective client and becoming a new client. Special offers can include percentages off, free trials, and grouping discounts.
I am not advocating lowering your pricing, especially after pointing out that you most likely have too low a price point. Rather I point out that there are incentives to bring in those already interested in your services.
Percentage Discounts
I suggest that if you decide a percentage discount is the route you want to take then please only consider this for the first month’s services and not the duration of their being your client. It can make a difference to simply get them in the door. Now you have to prove yourself.
Free Trials
Offering a free trial makes more sense when it is a membership service. This allows the client to try it out before committing fully and paying for the services. Whether it be a free week or a free month is up to you but is a good way to bring in more people to your service offering.
Grouping Discounts
A grouping discount means to group services together to give an incentive to purchase more than one service. For instance, when I had my digital marketing agency I offered social media management, email marketing, SEO Blogging, and more. If a client began with blog writing services for example, and then wanted to add in other services I gave them a special rate to have more than one service through us. This is a great incentive for the client to use your services for all of their needs (should you provide more than one type of service).
Online Courses and Memberships
Online Courses
Building online courses is another way to increase your revenue in your online service business. You have knowledge within you that others would love to hear.
Creating a course is not easy and does take time but it is worth it. Once you create the slides and teach it live a few times you will be able to record good versions of the course. The reason you do this is so that you can then put it on auto pilot for students who want to take the course you created. You do not have to record it again unless technology changes and have to update a section of it.
Memberships
Adding a membership or subscription service is a great way to increase your revenue. In our online service businesses, we need to consider out the box ideas sometimes. So, consider what type of membership or subscription service would your clients consider?
Often these are for the clients who may not be able to afford your full services but still need a bit of help. A great example of this is when one of my clients created a social media membership that included fresh monthly graphics for her author clients. When they purchase this monthly, auto-renew, membership it saves them the stress of having to try to figure out a graphic for each post, especially if they are not visually creative.
Still not sure it is for you, then if for no other reason, consider this…
Over three quarters of businesses say that their subscription service improves customer retention and builds loyalty.“
wishlist
And then there are these statistics:
- 42% of established membership-based businesses have had over 1,000 people join over the lifetime of the business. (Membership Geeks)
- 45.2% of established membership businesses bring in 6 figures each year. 6.9% bring in 7 figures. (Membership Geeks)
- 36.9% of B2B memberships and 47.4% of B2C memberships cost between $25-49 per month. (Membership Geeks)
- 99% of memberships report customers staying for longer than 3 months at a time. (Membership Geeks)
- A 2% conversion rate is considered good for membership sites – converting website visitors into members. (ASAE Center)
- Just 32% of membership businesses offer different tiers to their membership. Some of the more popular differences between membership levels are different features/content, access to group coaching, or an exclusive high-tier community section. (Membership Geeks)
- Memberships are the fastest growing market is Europe while the largest market is North America according to a report by Straits Research.
- According to a survey by Global Banking and Finance, 70% of senior business leaders in key industries including retail and finance believe subscription models are key to growth.
“Marketing Geek shares that while most membership sites earn less than $50,000, the average annual income is nearly $200,000” -Uscreen
Digital Products
Next, you should consider creating digital products to sell. We all create so many digital products and you probably don’t consider them as something you could sell. I’m here to tell you however that would pay for those creations.
These products generally have a low price point but can sell well. And you only need to create it once and then put it up for sale.
Types of Digital Products
- Printable and Fillable Planners
- Printable and Fillable Social Media Calendars
- Printable and Fillable Digital Template Products
- Printable and Fillable Digital Strategies
- Printable and Fillable Brainstorming Template
- Printable and Fillable Excel Keyword Research Template
- Digital Photography
This list could go on and on so use your imagination and see what you can create.
Final Thoughts
The truth about creating additional revenue is that there are no limits! It is only limited by your imagination. So, sit down and do some brainstorming, mind mapping, and brain dumps. Get out of your way and create, my friends. I look forward to seeing what decide and create.
Set up a 1-on-1 Mini Coaching Session with Tammy today!
Let me know if I can help you.
Tammy Durden is a thought leader, speaker, and business coach for online service solopreneurs.
Tammy has established herself as an authority figure over the last 16 years in the online service industry. She specializes in helping solopreneurs scale by adding a virtual team to grow your business.